Fort Worth first transit-oriented development is back on track in this location

South Main Street is new again after a major transformation

Fort Worth’s South Main Street already has some hip old buildings, some beautiful new buildings — and a lot more on the way. (Video by Max Faulkner/Star-Telegram)

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Fort Worth’s South Main Street already has some hip old buildings, some beautiful new buildings — and a lot more on the way. (Video by Max Faulkner/Star-Telegram)

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Fort Worth

Fort Worth's first transit-oriented development, planned for the city's South Main Village, appears to be back on track after a nearly two-year hiatus, but the size and scope of the project has changed.

The tract is now a park-and-ride lot and bus stop just south of the T&P Lofts on the southside of Interstate 30, where commuters pick up the Trinity Railway Express and beginning later this year, the 27-mile rail line TEXRail to Dallas-Fort Worth Airport.

The project has been in the works since 2013. At one time, a pedestrian bridge was planned over Main Street to connect a residential building and hotel site with a parking facility on the east side of Main Street.

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The agencies are in negotiations with Lewisville-based RMGM Developers, an affiliate of Matthews Southwest, to be the developer, said Mary-Margaret Lemons, president of Fort Worth Housing Solutions.

Matthews Southwest has done several projects in Dallas, including the $346 million Omni Dallas Hotel and the $27 million Lamar Street retail project in front of it, the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema and a 164-unit loft development called Belleview, according to its website.

The Fort Worth project will now include a six-story, 598-space parking garage along side a 10-story, 236-unit apartment building that will have 13,445-square-feet at street level for a daycare center, offices, shops or restaurants. Construction could begin in early 2019, Lemons said.

At least half of the apartments will rent at market rates and the remaining rent-restricted for residents making at least 60 percent of the area median income. A few units from the Butler Place public housing projects will be shifted to the development as well, she said.

The project was once planned to be 12 stories and 265 units. The second phase of the project will be a $26.5 million six-story hotel, Lemons said.

The parking garage will cost nearly $12 million. About $4.5 million in 2014 bond funding from Fort Worth will be used toward that, Lemons said.

Lemons said other funding for the project is still being sought, including money from the Near Southside Tax Increment Finance District for public space improvements. That group meets again in July.

Lemons said they will be asking the Fort Worth City Council in August to support a resolution of non-opposition for a 4 percent tax credit application with the Texas Department of Housing, a mechanism for seeking investors.

Mike Brennan, president of Near Southside Inc., a member-based nonprofit advocacy organization, said the project has had a lot of moving parts the past few years, but he feels confident now it will be completed.

"A lot of those pieces are falling into place," Brennan said. "There's no question about the demand for housing. It's a home run site and it's a great hotel site."

District 9 Councilwoman Ann Zadeh, where the project is located, said, "I'm just very excited about the whole thing."

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